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RCB Bank

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RCB Bank
IndustryBanking, financial services
Founded1995
Defunctlicence withdrawn December 2022
HeadquartersLimassol, Cyprus
Key people
Christakis Santis (chairman)
Kirill Zimarin (CEO)

RCB Bank (formerly Russian Commercial Bank) was an international bank founded in 1995 and headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus.

Background

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RCB branch in Nicosia

In 1963, the London branch of the Russian Moscow Narodny Bank established a branch in Beirut for foreign trade and export support from the USSR to Middle Eastern countries.[1][2][3][4] In 1985, during the height of the Libyan–U.S. crisis, the Beirut branch closed and some staff members and documents were transferred to Cyprus, where it received its papers from the State Bank of the USSR in 1989.[3][5] It was later transferred to the Russian VTB Bank, becoming a full subsidiary of VTB in August 1995.[2][6] In 2002, VTB owned the controlling stake in RCB Bank and also had controlling stakes in the Vienna-based Donau Bank and the Luxembourg-based East-West United Bank. By 2005, VTB controlled 100% of RCB Bank.[7][8][9]

History

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RCB Bank was founded in 1995 under the name Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus), which changed to simply RCB Bank in November 2013.[10] The bank is based in Limassol, with branches in Nicosia[11] and nine other locations across Cyprus as of July 2018.[12] It also has branches in Luxembourg and representative offices in Moscow and London.[10]

The bank's chairman was Greek-Cypriot banker Christakis Santis, while Russian banker Kirill Zimarin was its CEO.[13] Other board of directors members included English-Cypriot economist Sir Christopher Pissarides, Greek-Cypriot former foreign minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, Greek-Cypriot former attorney general Petros Clerides, Greek-Cypriot former permanent secretary at the ministries of finance and justice Andreas Tryfonides, and Greek-Cypriot former ambassador and permanent secretary at the foreign ministry Sotos Zackheos.[13][14]

In November 2014, RCB Bank was categorized as a significant bank under European Banking Supervision.[15][16] Since 2016, RCB Bank has been a partner of the European Investment Bank[17] and the European Investment Fund in financing investment projects implemented with the EU funds in Cyprus.[18]

In August 2017, Zimarin increased his ownership of RCB to 49.9% by acquiring a 19.85% stake in the Russian Otkritie Financial Corporation Bank.[12][19]

In February 2022, VTB Bank sold its shares in RCB to Cypriot shareholders in the midst of economic effects caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine,[20][21][22] thus making the bank entirely Cypriot-owned for the first time.[23][24][25][26][27]

In line with the voluntary decision of the shareholders of RCB to wind down banking operations, the ECB/CBC approved the withdrawal of the banking license of RCB on 22 December 2022.[28] The bank has ceased to trade.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ ""Путь Геракла : история банкира Виктора Геращенко, рассказанная им Николаю Кротову" – читать". knigosite.org. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  2. ^ a b Угодников, Константин (April 15, 2013). "Свой среди чужих: Почему в Москве так озабочены судьбой коммерческого банка на далеком Кипре?" [His own among strangers: Why be so concerned about the fate of a commercial bank in distant Cyprus in Moscow?]. "Итоги" itogi.ru (in Russian). Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Томас Иванович Алибегов: Последовало мнение, что мне в советской банковской системе не место!" [Tomas Ivanovich Alibegov: There was an opinion that I had no place in the Soviet banking system!] (PDF). Экономическая Летопись России (Economic Chronicle Russia) (Следующая остановка — Бейрут on pages 39-45) (in Russian). April 2015. pp. 10–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Алибегов Томас Иванович" [Tomas Ivanovich Alibegov]. Экономическая Летопись России (Economic Chronicle Russia) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 29 December 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Российские банки на Кипре". www.kommersant.ru (in Russian). 1996-02-08. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  6. ^ Березанская, Елена (January 3, 2012). "Остров сокровищ" [Treasure Island]. Forbes (in Russian). Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  7. ^ Овчинников, О. (Ovchinnikov, O.) (8 November 2000). "ЦБ - центральный Банд ..." [Central Bank - Central Gang ...]. Агентство федеральных расследований "FreeLance Bureau" (FLB) (flb.ru) (in Russian). Retrieved 6 August 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Alternate archive
  8. ^ ""Дочерние" российские зарубежные банки и сеть ВТБ: доли ЦБ, ВТБ и др" [Russian Foreign "Daughter" Banks and the VTB Network: stakes held by Central Bank, VTB, others]. compromat.ru. February 2005. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  9. ^ Бирман, Александр (Birman, Alexander) (21 February 2005). "В советских сетях: Нефтедоллары пойдут по проверенным каналам загранбанков" [In Soviet networks: Oil dollars will go through proven channels of foreign banks]. ООО Журнал «КО» (ko.ru) (Компании Деловой Еженедельник). Archived from the original on 13 March 2005. Retrieved 6 August 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b "RCB Bank Ltd.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  11. ^ "Главы РФ и Кипра открыли в Никосии первый розничный офис российского банка в ЕС" [Heads of Russia and Cyprus opened in Nicosia the first retail office of the Russian bank in the EU]. banki.ru (in Russian). RIA Novosti. October 8, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Geopolitics, sanctions not deterring RCB, CEO Zimarin says". Cyprus Mail. July 1, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Members of the Board of Directors — RCB Bank Ltd". Rcbcy.com. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  14. ^ "Cyprus implicated in Panama papers (Update 4, adds Central Bank reaction) - Cyprus Mail Cyprus Mail". cyprus-mail.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  15. ^ "ECB assumes responsibility for euro area banking supervision". European Central Bank. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  16. ^ "Who supervises my bank?". European Central Bank - Banking Supervision. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  17. ^ fm (2016-02-19). "CYPRUS: RCB Bank joins forces with EIB to support SMEs". Financial Mirror. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  18. ^ SigmaLive. "First EFSI transaction signed in Cyprus between EIF-RCB | News". www.sigmalive.com. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  19. ^ "Куда течет денежный поток Кремля: Критики ВТБ говорят, что только тесные связи с Путиным сохраняют второй по величине российский банк от более глубокого кризиса" [Where the Kremlin's cash flow flows: Critics of VTB say that only close ties with Putin save the second-largest Russian bank from a deeper crisis]. Insider Pro (in Russian). August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  20. ^ "RCB Bank announces change in the shareholding Structure". in-cyprus.philenews.com. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  21. ^ "RCB Bank becomes Cypriot-owned after Russian stakeholder transfers shares | Cyprus Mail". cyprus-mail.com/. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  22. ^ "Moody's upgrades RCB Bank's deposit ratings to B1 from B3". Moody's. August 29, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  23. ^ Seddon, Max (August 24, 2016). "Cashflow and the Kremlin: Critics of VTB, Russia's second biggest bank, say only deep ties to Putin have helped it fend off a deeper crisis". Financial Times. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  24. ^ Harding, Luke (April 3, 2016). "Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin". The Guardian. London.
  25. ^ Kotova, Yulia (April 4, 2016). "Глава ВТБ назвал "бредом" сообщения о связи Путина с сетью офшоров" [Head of VTB called it "delirium" the announcement about the Putin's connection with off-shore networks] (in Russian). RBC News. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  26. ^ Blum, Petra; Obermaier, Frederik; Obermayer, Bastian. "Putin's rich friends". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  27. ^ Harding, Luke (April 3, 2016). "Sergei Roldugin, the cellist who holds the key to tracing Putin's hidden fortune". The Guardian. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  28. ^ Bank, European Central (2022-12-22). "ECB withdraws banking licence of RCB Bank".
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